As a parent, if you see a motorist driving down the street, and you see several young kids in their car not properly restrained, that might give you pause. You probably know that young children need to use car seats, and that older ones need to use seatbelts. You can only control what you do in your own vehicle, though, not what anyone else does in theirs.
Child car accident deaths do occur sometimes. For instance, Pennsylvania saw 1,184 child car accident deaths under age 14 in 2021, and you can expect similar numbers in most other years. Often, these deaths happened because a parent or guardian didn’t strap a child in correctly, or maybe they didn’t use a car seat, even though they had a child in that age group.
Let’s talk for a few moments about how your child should sit safely in the car at different ages.
How Can You Tell How to Safely Seat Your Child in the Car?
If you’re going to have a new baby for the first time, you might feel nervous about that, but you may feel some excitement as well. You should take some time to baby-proof the house. You can read books that will tell you how to do it, and you can also speak to your doctor.
You can also talk to your pediatrician about car safety seats. They will likely know all about them. They can recommend some of the best ones currently on the market.
Till When Should a Child Remain in a Car Safety Seat?
You can ask your child’s doctor about when you can safely put them in a car seat and how long they should stay there. They should have that information, but if they don’t, you can easily find it online as well.
For the most part, doctors agree that children should stay in car safety seats until they either reach ages 8-12 or they reach 4 feet and 9 inches in height. Usually, you can go by height rather than age, since some children will reach that height when they’re a lot younger, but others not till they’re older.
Your child’s doctor will also probably tell you that they need to sit in the back seat of the car until they reach an age where they no longer need the car seat. If an accident happens, then your child stands the best chance of avoiding any serious injuries if you sat them in the back seat facing forward. If you have them in the front seat, then that potentially endangers them, even if they’re in the car safety seat that the doctor recommended.
What Should You Do with Your Child Once They Outgrow Their Car Seat?
Once your child reaches age 12, or more often once they get to 4 feet and 9 inches in height, then you can take the car seat out of the car and let them use a seatbelt. Presumably, they should know how to operate one now. You can show them the basic operation of the seatbelt if they don’t know about it yet.
You might want to consider having them sit in the back seat for a couple more years if they’ve reached the height when they no longer need a car seat when they’re still relatively young. If they’re immature for their age, and you feel like they might distract you while you’re driving, then having them continue to sit in the back seat with a seatbelt on might make the most sense.
You Should Make Riding Without a Car Seat a Big Deal
You should probably try to make your child sitting in your vehicle without a car seat for the first time a big deal. It’s much like the way you should celebrate if your child gets to the point where they’re using the potty without your help for the first time.
Getting to where they no longer need the car seat while riding in your vehicle constitutes a major change in the child’s life, and they might feel proud or grown up when they do it. You should encourage those feelings. It’s a natural milestone that a child can reach, and when they do, you can tell them how much they have grown up.
Maybe you’ll celebrate by taking them to their favorite fast-food restaurant or doing something else that seems appropriate.
Emphasize How Much Seatbelts Matter
Even before you get to the point where you can officially take the car seat out of the vehicle and have your child sit in the car without it, you can emphasize how much seatbelt use matters. Some parents don’t necessarily know or understand how much their behavior impacts what a child does later in life.
When they’re still in the car seat, you can talk them through the process of strapping them securely in place, and then you can talk them through you putting your seatbelt on as well. You might even make up a little song about it or come up with other ways to make it fun.
In this way, you’re teaching them about the importance of car safety from a very young age. You can similarly emphasize turning the car’s lights on when you’re driving in the dark, signaling a lane change, and doing any other driver behavior that helps to keep you safe.
By doing this, you’re instilling the idea that car behaviors matters, and that’s a responsible thing to do as a parent. By the time your young one starts learning how to drive, they should know to always wear a seatbelt. It will become second nature to them because you made it a point of emphasis.
The transition from car seat to seatbelt signals a child’s growth, just like the many other natural milestones on their path. You should celebrate each of these with your young one as they get older and become more mature.
